What are kicking horses thinking about?With kicking horses there are three ingredients involved and all are related. One is fear the other is self defence; the third is a lack of understanding. It all depends upon the situation. Then there are the kicking horses at play. They just wanna have fun!
Kicking Horses & FearKnowing the history of a horse’s life helps especially if they had endured any unpleasant experiences. You might unintentionally trigger their fear. So every precaution should be taken with any horse you are unfamiliar with. Don’t take someone else’s word for it. Discover where the horse is at through safe ground work training. Gaining the horses trust would be the order of the day. With a horse you have know for years still consider the possibility that if startled the reaction to kick might happen. Awareness around all horses at all times is prudent.
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Kicking Horses & Self DefenceAdding to the above fear a horse might also feel he must defend himself too. A good example is during the training process of teaching a horse to pick up one foot for trimming purposes. It can be a two fold event. One, where the horse is frightened of the idea itself (you can’t touch me there!) and two, that he feels defenceless on three legs. If we consider a herd animal’s perspective it is easy to understand why it would be opposable.Kicking Horses & UnderstandingAll of the above would stem from a lack of understanding from the horse’s perspective. If we take the appropriate time to teach the horse that he has nothing to fear or feel defensive about then an understanding would be formed. The best tool that is quick and efficient is the method of positive reinforcement through Clicker Training. It builds a language and trust at the same time. Here is an example of the positive reinforcement process for picking up a foot.C/R stands for Click and Reinforce.
Note: You would not accomplish all of these tasks in one session. That would be too much information for the horse. I just live by the principle to not move on until I know the horse can understand my requests. The better we become at our timing and delivery the faster everything gets accomplished. 1.) Charge the clicker. C/R, C/R, C/R etc. 2.) C/R for all the places currently on the horse that you know he will allow you to touch and remain standing still. 3.) Start at the shoulder, stroke 3 times and on the 4th continue the touch all the way down the leg while gently leaning your shoulder into his with the intent that the horse leans over and un-weights the foot you are working with. C/R. The 3 strokes become a preparatory command so the horse will learn what is going to happen next. Do this several times and do not move forward until you can feel the horse willingly shift his weight. 4.) Repeat #3 then add a little more and place your hand around the fetlock joint as if you were going to pick it up. The moment the horse leans and the foot starts to come of the ground, C/R. Even if the toes remains on the ground but he has attempted to pick up his heel, C/R. This is the beginning of success and understanding. 5.) Repeat #4 until the horse can willingly pick the whole foot off the ground, C/R. 6.) Repeat #5 until the horse can willingly hold the foot for one second, C/R. 7.) From here you just want to build time into the equation. Try not to jump from one second to 5 seconds. The slower you go the better it will be. The horse will let you know how long he can hold his foot before feeling unconfident. By breaking down anything we are trying to teach our horses into smaller steps, the greater the understanding will be.
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